RUDE INTRUDERS UNNERVE ISLANDERS

HONOLULU -- Rats are popping up in toilets around Hawaii's most famous island, creating an "unbelievable health hazard," a state legislator whose home has been one of the domiciles invaded by the rodents said Friday.

Victims have described at least some of the rude intruders as 8- to 10- inch-long Norwegian black rats, the biggest and most vicious in Hawaii.

City sewer maintenance official Godfrey Ching said complaints of rats swimming through the sewer systems and coming up in toilets have come from startled homeowners around the island of Oahu, including the Kahala, Manoa, Kaneohe and Nuuanu districts.

Kahala includes a beachfront stretch of million-dollar-plus homes.

One of its prominent residents, Republican State Rep. Fred Hemmings, said he has heard of at least four families in the Kahala area finding the creatures in their commodes.

"There have been times when people were sitting on the john when the rats have swum up," Hemmings said.